Memories
by Kirasel
Summary: When all is said and done, nobody remembers the witch.  From the time she is born, to the time she is captured, nobody knows or cares.  The only one who knows the whole story is the witch herself.
1. Awakening

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

**WARNING!: Fic under construction! **

_I suppose I'm whole, now; I've integrated into Kairi. But really, it's more like the fact that she's whole, not me. She's in command most of the time, and the body that we both share doesn't look like me. It looks like her. Or, more accurately, it looks _more _like her. Our faces do look pretty similar, after all. Change a few things about Kairi's facial structure, make her hair longer and blonder, and you'd have something that would look like me. Really, it's not like we look completely different. It's just… well… it's odd. Becoming whole (terms that I'm starting to question more and more) was something that I guess I looked forward to. I just assumed that I'd be assimilated into Kairi's mind until I'm a Kairi with a Namine's memories, and our personalities blend. Only that hasn't been happening, and, consciously, I'm still completely separate from Kairi. _

_I really shouldn't be feeling sad about that. I mean, if I blend into Kairi's mind, I'll be destroyed. Still. I'm not sure if I care about that – I haven't been in the outside world for months! I still have her whole mindscape to explore, but I miss actually touching something that's actually _real_. Not that Kairi's mindscape is bad, or boring. Unconsciously, she repeatedly changes the setting of where I stay. When she's sleeping, there's a nice bed for me too. At mealtimes, or, actually, right before, there's food, of all kinds actually, mostly the things she likes to eat, which, ever so coincidentally, are things I like too. And then, when she's just imagining, there are all these gardens and castles. One remarkable one is a landscape made of crystal and ice, clear and glittering. Very nice. _

_And well, when she's stuck reading textbooks and writing reports, I get to look through memories. They really are quite fascinating. It's true what Sora said: the memories might be forgotten, but never lost. Right now, I'm in a very interesting memory of Kairi's first birthday party. It's cute. Especially when the cake lands on her head, and all she's doing is looking around and smiling, while everyone else is turning red. Ah, I see; they're rather angry at the boy who ruined the party. He wanted the cake a little early, and – hmmm, that's interesting._

_I don't think Roxas has the chance to do this. It's really too bad. There are all these things he doesn't know about that I'm pretty sure he would find, at least, kind of interesting. Like… well… I can't think of anything right now, but there's gotta be something, right? Maybe Castle Oblivion. I know he's been curious about that. He would have really wanted to know what happened to all of those Organization members. So would Sora, now that I think about it. Especially since Sora can't remember anything about it. Including me, which I think is a bit sad. Not a lot of people remember me, actually. Sure, there was the Organization, but they all faded away, except for Roxas. Riku, I'm sure, remembers me, at least a little bit, but it's not like he can talk to me. Kairi is…um… I'm not so sure she remembers I'm there half the time… _

_But that's okay. I guess. She's busy. They're all busy. I'm… just a bit lonely. That's all. That's all right. _

_I…don't care…really…_

_There's… something I do care about, though. It's... well... still possible to get bored. So, I've taken up a project. I've found that, even from inside Kairi's mind, I can still access Sora's memories. It's strange, I guess. But, then again, I was a witch. Correction: I'm still a witch. I can still control the memories from anyone even vaguely connected to Sora. So why does this matter? Well, I've got an incomplete memory. Thanks to Sora, since he became whole (sort of- he wasn't really whole with Roxas missing, right?), and Kairi, because she didn't turn Heartless like she was supposed to. Of course not, she's a Princess of Heart – I wonder what that makes me by default - I don't blame them. But this project here, that I'm working on? I'm going to try and fill in all the blank spots in my memory. Yes, that's right. I'm going to search my own mind and everyone else's to see what really happened. After all, it's not like the memories are lost. Just forgotten for a little while._

_Or a long while. Whatever works._

Flower petals.

She blinked, and looked again at the little bits of pink and white swirling around in the air, falling from an old, gnarled tree. They looked out of place on the beach, surrounded by sand and waves. Sure, they were pretty, but she didn't understand why they would even be there. The Islands didn't have any plants like that. No big trees, no really leafy ones like the one in front of her. There were mango trees. Guava trees. Coconut trees. But no trees that would grow that big or scatter so many petals. She didn't even know those trees existed.

_A birthday party – there was a leafy tree with bright red flowers, and she was smiling –_

_Hey Kairi, do you remember where you used to live?_

_Stop asking me that. You know I don't._

_Really? Are you sure? _

_I'm sure. Guys, stop asking me._

_Why? Come on! We'll trigger your memory somehow!_

_I don't want my memory triggered._

_Aw, come on -_

_Leave me alone!_

Falling. She was falling.

How – how had that happened? That couldn't have happened this wasn't _real _she wasn't stupid enough to walk off a _cliff_ or anything–

_Get down from there!_

_I can't! I'm scared!_

_What, you're afraid of heights?_

_No, I'm afraid of the ground!_

And there it was, looming up at her. She was going to crash, and be a bloody splash on the flower petal strewn ground. Instinctively, she put out her hand – _no don't do that, you'll break your arm, you stupid girl – but it's better than breaking my whole body! _She needed to break her fall, but crashing into a tree would do as much damage as crashing into the ground –

The ground dissolved beneath her and she was falling, falling, again. Only this time, she wasn't falling face first. She was falling backwards, looking at the sky.

Dazed. Stunned. That was what she was. For a moment, she couldn't do anything but just watch the orange and red of the sky. _"Kairi!" Riku. Sora. _They were yelling. Screaming her name. That brought her back, and she reached out. Riku and Sora seemed so close she could almost touch them. And then, somehow, she was holding on, barely. Then fingers slipped, and she was falling again.

"Kairi!"

_"Kairi? Are you okay? Sweetie, can you hear me?" _

Into the water. Into the salt and brine. Straight down into the coral and cliffs. And slowly, she was being carried away, like she was nothing at all. She was kicking out, as hard as she could. But it made no difference. The current was having no trouble at all, carrying her away. Then something snagged her foot, and started to slow her down. She kicked again, but it didn't want to let _go. _Before she knew it, she was dragged under.

_Dark…_

The hand that had a hold of her foot was black, little wisps of darkness coming off of it. Looking further down revealed beady yellow eyes that stared straight ahead. Bright and unblinking. She squinted. _Sora? _The thing _was _shaped a lot like him, from the spiky hair to the crown-shaped necklace that was now radiating darkness. But it couldn't be.

…Could it?

No.

Impossible.

But still… _Sora. _Whatever it was, the thing put what must have been a finger to where its mouth should have been.

And then something solid hit her feet, and she knew it had to be the seafloor, but she didn't care. Her lungs were bursting, and she was getting a little light-headed, and she needed to _breathe, _but there was nothing here but water, and if she tried to breathe that in, she would be _dead, _and –

_Who cares anymore?_

She gave in, and took a deep breath. No water came rushing into her lungs. It was air, really. It was damp and heavy and smelled of salt, but it was definitely air.

And then the Sora look-a-like stood up, and summoned a giant key – _Keyblade – _and started to come closer. She took a step backwards, and as she did so, a blinding light came up from below her. She saw white for a few seconds - then the light subsided. The look-alike had gone. Shaking her head (she was hallucinating, she knew it), she looked down. She wasn't standing on the seafloor, like she thought, but a circular platform, floating in the darkness. She restrained an urge to look over the edge and see how far the darkness went…

She took a closer look at the platform. It was a picture, of a red-haired girl – _that's _me_ – _which seemed to be the main focus. Kairi. Right next to her were four smaller pictures. Three boys; one of them was Sora, another one had to be Riku, and that last one – that last one, she didn't know at all. He kind of looked like Sora, but that couldn't be it. There was something off about it, but she couldn't figure out what. She gave up and looked at the last picture.

It was a girl, with blonde hair. It looked a little like herself, but with blond hair instead of red.

She examined the entire platform closely. What was strange was that everyone seemed to be sleeping, their eyes closed. The only ones that seemed to be awake were the unknown boy and girl. Odd…

And then she heard a voice. It came from everywhere, and it seemed to come from nowhere. The voice was strange, to say the least. In fact, she wasn't even sure it was even speaking. It wasn't loud, it wasn't quiet – it was both, in a manner of speaking.

_So much to do… So little time… Take your time…_

What?

_Hold the door open. Can you do it?_

She snorted. This was the strangest dream she'd ever had. It felt so real, too. She could still feel the water, she could still feel pain. She still couldn't wake up. And anyway, what door? There wasn't a door _anywhere. _What was she supposed to hold open, if there wasn't even a door?

She stepped forward. It was all a dream anyway. No reason why should listen to the voice. No reason at all. Holding open a door wasn't what _she _wanted to do. What she wanted to take a closer look at the pictures, before it was all lost. And there they were. Spiky brown hair, bright blue eyes. Dull purple and aquamarine. And there was the picture of herself. Red hair, and the same bright blue eyes as –

There was something off. Their eyes had been closed. Now they were open? She bent down. Glass. The platform was made of cold, unmoving glass. Maybe she saw it wrong before? No, she was sure they were closed a minute ago…

_Power sleeps within you. If you give it form…_

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of light. She turned around.

_…It will give you strength._

Three stone tablets. One bearing a staff, another with a shield, and the last one with a sword.

_Choose well._

…This had to be the strangest dream she'd ever had. But somehow, she couldn't stop herself from moving, from obeying the voice, from stepping toward the tablet with tablet with the sword. Her mind seemed detached from her body, and she could only watch as she stretched a hand toward it.

The voice spoke again. _The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction… Is this the power you seek?_

She gritted her teeth. She was starting to sink into the dream. She was starting to go into that state where everything said in a dream was taken for truth. Could she fight it? No, but couldn't she try –

_No._

She shuddered. No. Most definitely, no. She was no warrior, she didn't want that. Even if it did help her, it wasn't what she wanted. The sword felt heavy and uncomfortable in her hands, and she gladly dropped it back onto the tablet, where it floated gently.

She walked toward the tablet with the staff.

_The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin… Is this the power you seek?_

She hesitated. She hadn't looked at the shield yet. But the staff was nice, just the right size for her, and she felt like she could conquer the world with it. After a moment of thought, she nodded. "Yes." The word slipped out, quietly, unobtrusively, almost invisibly.

And with that confirmation, the staff started fading away, breaking into shards of light.

_What? _No, she couldn't have broken it. She had held it, and it had been sturdy and strong, but – she didn't know about this kind of stuff, it was some weird magical mumbo-jumbo, maybe it had been spelled to look sturdy but actually wasn't. But then, that really would've meant that she broke it, right?

Alarmed, she reached for shards of light – for what, she didn't know – and then stopped.

The light was vanishing into her hands.

_Your path is set for you._

The other two weapons broke away, fading quickly in a burst of light

What -

_Value your prized possessions._

_You must be strong._

_You cannot be indecisive._

_Your journey begins now._

The platform broke, and she was falling, falling…

And she landed on another platform. But she had barely taken note of her surroundings before the platform broke, again, and she kept on falling. Kept on landing, platform kept on breaking, kept on falling.

_And here you are, endlessly falling. _

And she fell again.

_Won't anyone find you? _

Suddenly, a beam of light shone through, and she landed. Not gently this time, but with a hard thump that knocked the breath out of her. With a moan, she shook her head and pushed herself back up. The platform she landed on didn't break this time. It had a girl on it, like before, but it wasn't Kairi; it was that blonde-haired girl she had seen before. There were no surrounding pictures, like before. It was entirely empty.

…Why did that feel so _wrong_?

_You shall be alone. Is that a surprise, to you? Of course, everything will be a surprise. Memory will mean everything and nothing._

_There will be times where you must use your power. It will mean everything and nothing. Use it well._

Dark spots began to appear on the platform. They rose up, two dimensional shifting into three dimensional, forming spindly legs and arms. Soon, the picture of the girl was hidden by the black shadow-like creatures. She took a step back, and began to sink.

_What?_

Darkness. That's what it was. She was sinking into the darkness.

No, no nonononono –

Cold dark tainted she could feel it slippery slimy dark consuming -

Gotta get up gottago gottagetup-

Push yourselfout push, go run stayaway

Hands can't touch solid, just go into colddark taintedconsuming -

NO way out no way out no way out-

Nothingleft no thing how no –

Can't breathe, can't bre…

_Breathe._

_Breathe._

_Breathe._

Then she woke up.

* * *

><p><em>Yes, this was my first memory. Odd, isn't it? I still thought I was Kairi then. It made sense. In this, I still looked like Kairi. Just exactly like her, and my memories matched up with hers perfectly – except for this one little thing…<em>

_What's that? No, this isn't an Awakening. Similar, but it wasn't. Really._

_If I had been someone else, I might have gotten the entire process; the part where I had to fight against all of the Heartless. A proof of existence, I guess. Then it would have been a waiting game. You either fought off all of the Heartless, or you sunk in the dark and was forgotten and never remembered. Why was I any different? I was the Nobody of a Princess of Heart. And the Princesses were never warriors. There were healers, singers, magicians (how else did they get all those birds and animals to go around them? They had a sort of magical…aura, so to put it. It was possible to expand this to actual magical prowess, with intentional offensive spells, but happened rarely), yes, maybe. But warriors? It was doubtful to find one with fighting ability. Why do you think they were so easily captured? _

_A Princess of Heart, being made of light, would easily survive the darkness. That all but guaranteed my…somewhat debatable… success._

_Success of what, you ask? Nothing really. This whole thing determined whether I would awake as a human-like Nobody or not. _

_Like I said before. If I was somebody else, it would have been a waiting game. How many waves of Heartless you could defeat, how long you fought before you started sinking, and how long you held out before losing your sense of self._

_All those determined whether you could be a Nobody _at all_. After all, it all determined your strength of will. Even if you had no heart, your will had to be strong enough to even move your body. Your soul didn't need a strong will when you were whole. The heart handled that, back then. _

_I don't know the specific times, really. But if you lasted a long enough time…_

_Well. Assuming you were deemed strong enough to be a Nobody in the first place, the length of time you struggled would determine how strong you actually were as a Nobody. And then, there's the most vital difference of it all, the losing of your sense of self. Some did, and those became the Nobodies who had no memory, the lesser ones, the inhuman-looking ones. The ones who did, well, were… how would you say… ah. Those would be the ones that had won the privilege of identity and memory._

_It's obvious enough to figure out on your own._

_Obvious to me._

_If I had been anybody else._

_Anybody else._

_Not everybody's lucky enough to be the Nobody of a Princess of Heart. After all, as far as I know, I'm the only one. Only one with enough light to make it through the darkness that I was sinking in._

_As far as I know, I was the only one who made it through the trial by doing nothing. By relying on the power of a non-existent heart to guide me through._

_If I had been anybody else…_

_I barely had any fighting ability. My instinct was to dodge rather than to attack. I wouldn't have lasted long. I would have been overwhelmed, just like what already happened. Only, because I wouldn't be special, I wouldn't succeed the trial. I couldn't struggle, so that automatically gave me nothingness. True nonexistence, not even the fake existence given to Nobodies. And, if by some chance, I stayed conscious long enough to be a Nobody, I wouldn't have woken up._

_If I hadn't been me, I would have _never_ woken up._

_I would have never been Naminé._

_-No sense of self. _

_I would have been nothing._

_-No mind._

_I would be nobody._

_-No existence at all._

_Which is strange, really. After all, I _am_ a Nobody._


	2. Forgetting

_Here I go again. Talking to myself. I really should drop that habit. It'll be the death of me someday. But really, right now, there's no harm to it. It gets a little boring in here, with no one to talk to. I would like to talk to Roxas, but he's with Sora. I could try to talk to Kairi, but I really can't unless she lets me. Because most of the time, she forgets I'm here, well…_

_It would get really boring if I didn't talk to myself. I suppose I could force myself into her conscious thought, but that really takes a lot out of me. I'd rather take my chances. Oh, and I've discovered something really odd. If I really focus, I could actually fall asleep. I didn't think I could actually sleep, since I technically only exist in Kairi's mindscape. Meaning, that I really don't have a real body to go to sleep with. I don't actually need to go to sleep, but I don't think my mind would be able to handle full 24 hour days. I do it mainly for the relaxation, and the dreams. Then I get a story inside of a story. Isn't that nice?_

_That reminds me, I really should start assembling the whole story. Maybe, someday, I'll tell it to Kairi. _

_After all, it's her story, too._

Twilight Town, compared to most other worlds, was relatively normal. It had a school which wasn't underwater and actually taught normal subjects. People had jobs that didn't include destroying Heartless. Nobody really had a big, fated destiny including a Keyblade. The actual Nobodies didn't attack civilians; something about a truce and whatnot. The only really weird thing was the fact that that is was, well, twilight all the time.

Like all normal places, it had its own share of haunted places. Namely, the Old Mansion.

It is _believed_ to be haunted. Everyone knew that it had been abandoned, a long time ago. But who would know, who would care, if someone actually moved in?

If you look closely, you can see the curtains opening and closing, even when there is no wind to guide it. If you listen closely, you can hear words, sounds, coming from below. And – if you really listen – you can hear rumors, around town, about some people who went to the mansion, and never returned.

Right now, two people are slumped against the gates of this mansion. Who's to say that they would ever wake up?

Of course, for the sake of the story, they did.

"Nrgh…" She woke up, a pain pounding on the inside of her head. She sat up, massaging her temples. "What happened?" she muttered.

She had fallen asleep. What happened before she fell asleep?

Let's see… it was nighttime, wasn't it? Yes, that was it…

_"Sora! Don't start running around like that, it's dark. You'll fall in the water!"_

_"Don't worry about it, Kairi! I'm way too awesome to do that!"_

_"Fine. Don't come crying to me when you break your legs."_

_"Come on, don't be mean!"_

The whole island seemed strangely… dark? No, that wasn't the right word. It was _nighttime. _It was supposed to be dark. There was just a feeling of wrongness all around. She was… what was she doing? Eating? Sleeping? That wasn't right either.

Why couldn't she remember? She wasn't dumb, she wasn't stupid, she didn't have a faulty memory. Her memory was photographic!

_"Dad, have you seen where my textbook was?"_

_"Sorry, no. Do you need it?"_

Wait. Her brows furrowed. No, it wasn't. She remembered forgetting stuff all the time when she was younger, and it would frustrate her every time. That couldn't be right. Right now, it seemed very well photographic. Right now, she could even remember what she forgot yesterday. Her math homework, right? No, that wasn't right either.

It was like her memories were contradicting each other. What was wrong with her?

_Hey, Kairi - _"Are you okay?" The voice sounded terribly familiar, but at the same time, she had never heard it before.

She looked up. There was a boy, standing in front of her, looking concerned. He had wide, bright blue eyes, with spiky hair, and mainly white clothes. She felt like she knew him from somewhere. But from where, she didn't know.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled and nodded. Strange, she actually had to force herself to smile. It didn't normally work like that. "And you are?"

"Oh!" He gave a start, like he had stopped listening halfway through her sentence. "I'm Sora."

Her blood ran cold. "What?" she whispered. The voice and face were similar, that was why she thought she knew him. But that was impossible. It was impossible.

It had to be impossible.

"Sora," he repeated, back to looking concerned. "Hey, are you okay? You're not looking so good anymore…"

"You don't look like Sora," she said quietly. It was true the boy did have some resemblance to Sora, but it wasn't like he was identical. What was he trying to do here?

"I don't?" If she hadn't been so serious, she would have laughed at the look on his face. It was just so _funny, _so much like Sora. But it wasn't. It wasn't. She would have loved to see him again, but it just wasn't. She shook her head, giving the boy an answer and giving herself an opportunity to clear her thoughts. She really shouldn't think about that.

The boy pouted. "Why would you know that anyway?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

_Oh, god, he even has the same _facial expressions_-_

She considered this for a minute. She went with the simplest answer. "I'm Kairi." Short, simple, and to the point. If he really wasn't Sora, then there was no reason to remember that name.

"What…" Or maybe he did. It took skill to fake that look of shock. She should know, she had tried faking expressions. It didn't work. "You don't look like Kairi."

"I guessed that." She frowned, and fingered her now-long-blond hair. Maybe he was lying? Maybe he really was someone else?

But then, who was she? Maybe she was still Kairi. Maybe.

And in that picture, in that dream, there was a girl. It had the same face as Kairi, but it had different hair. Maybe that was her? And then there was an unknown boy, who looked similar to Sora. Maybe this was him?

His face split in a grin. "So, maybe we look equally not alike?"

"Really?" She couldn't help giggling. "You can still come up with that?"

"Hey, at least I'm trying!" he complained, sticking his tongue out.

"Even when you don't look like yourself, you sure act like yourself!"

"Yeah," he laughed. "I-" He stopped for a second. "I-" He frowned. "Weird. I can't remember what I was going to say."

"Really? Come on, do you have to be that much of an idiot?"

"I'm not! Seriously! Kai-" Another frown. "Hey, what was your name again? Uh, Keri, or something like that? Starts with a 'K'…"

Something… something was wrong here. "Sora," she began slowly. "We've known each other since we were five."

"Really?" He honestly seemed curious now. "Didn't know that. Now, what's my name again?"

She felt her face pale. "Sora… what do you remember?"

"Oh! My name's Sora! Thanks! Now, let's see, I remember-" He paused. "No, I don't remember. Who are you again?"

She gulped. "Sora. It's me, Kairi. I've known you for _years _now. You… you really don't know me?" She felt like she was about to cry, even if this was an imposter.

"No, sorry, miss. I – hey, what did you say again?"

She didn't – she – Sora – that –

"Miss?"

_He doesn't remember anything, nothing at all._

"Mi – huh, what was I saying?"

_Is he lying? _She looked into his face. Sora always read like an open book.

"Is something wrong?" There was the grin again. Then it was gone, replaced by a sort of half-frown, if you know what I mean. His eyes were starting to look almost – duller, really. Then he went back to slumping against the gate, his expression completely blank.

Then she felt it, too. His face – was it familiar? She couldn't tell –

No, she was losing it too. The dream –

What dream?

No, no, this couldn't be happening –

She desperately searched for her memories, found them, and tried to protect them. She envisioned a wall, a tall, sturdy wall to keep the intruders away. The intruders that stole Sora's memories. It wasn't perfect – how could it be, she was _panicking _– but she thought it did the job well.

At least, she thought it did, until she realized she couldn't remember what Sora's face looked like anymore.

_No! _She concentrated harder, harder on that wall that protected her memories.

Then there was a pressure, one that kept forcing itself on the wall, and it was giving her a _headache, _a constant, pounding, pain inside of her head.

_Stay back, stay back, stay back! I want to keep my memories, I want to keep them, even though Sora can't – _

She didn't know how long they were at it, but eventually, the pain began to recede. Slowly, she took her shaking hands off her temples. It was done.

She felt… strangely empty. She wanted to cry, but she just…couldn't.

Why?

She took a look at Sora – who, now that she thought about it, wasn't really Sora anymore. He was currently playing with the little zipper of his jacket. It was kind of cute. In a mind-numbingly stupid way.

If Sora wasn't Sora anymore, than what was she?

Sora… what was he, anyway?

Wait, why was she asking that? She should know perfectly well, shouldn't she? Sora was very important to her. But why…

…It didn't work, did it?

That protection wasn't a protection at all. She had been just fooling herself, hadn't she? Fooling herself with the illusion that she could _actually _do something. All that work…. It was the hardest she had ever worked in her life. Not that it mattered, since she couldn't remember anything in her life. Only one name, and it wasn't even her own.

What was her name, anyway?

K…a…i…

No, that didn't sound right. It was right, and not right all at once. She felt like it belonged to her, but the sound of it made her want to puke. No, that wasn't her name. Not anymore, if it ever was in the first place.

She'd have to think of a new one.

* * *

><p><em>Every single detail, I can remember perfectly. It's what I get, I suppose, for being able to manipulate memories. All the same, I still want to write it down. That way, I can look it over. Correct some things. It's a little hard to have actions interpreted as words.<em>

_Oh, time to stop? Already?_

_…Oh. That's why._

_Kairi does go to school, doesn't she?_

_Ever since Sora came back, there's been a bit of magic and weaponry taught at school, thanks to all the Heartless that's been showing up. All the same, it is still a school. With math and history and science. And other stuff. _

_I suppose, thanks to the memories I get from other people, and the fact that I remember everything perfectly, it makes me a perfect person to ask for help on homework._

_Kairi's a good student, but she can't remember everything, right?_

_I suppose it's time to go. It's been a while since I've been out, since I've really experienced the outside world. _

_Maybe Kairi will go to study with Sora, and I'll be able to talk to Roxas. I'm really starting to miss the guy._

_It's going to be nice. _


	3. Coming

_Hmmm. I wonder what would happen if I tried deleting stuff?_

_Like I said before, memories are like chains. I can disconnect them and reconstruct them, but I can't exactly delete the memories themselves. Of course, now that I think about it, it makes it rather difficult for me. Since I do have a perfect memory, I can remember every second of my writing and sketching. Which means I can remember erasing, and coloring, and erasing again, and etc. Meaning all those memories should still be in my head._

_Maybe I could tamper with my own head? I really don't want to remember exactly how many times I used the eraser. That would be dangerous, though…_

_It's possible I could try it on a Heartless. They have a very… limited memory. Most of them survive on instinct instead of intelligence, anyway. And I wouldn't feel right testing this on a Nobody. Seriously, that just makes me rather uncomfortable. It'd be like me experimenting on Roxas. _

_Speaking of which, I did manage to talk to him. It took me a bit of effort, but I think it was worth it. He was kind of happy to see me. Or would that be hear me, since he didn't exactly see me? Oh well, same thing. I think it was because he was bored. I mean, really. Spending time in someone's head is boring if you can't look at the memories. But, to make up for it, he was able to talk to Sora a whole lot easier than I can talk to Kairi. I wish I could talk to Kairi without having to yell in her head _and _try to project myself at the same time. Maybe I can't because I'm just weird that way. _

She bit her lip nervously, as she glanced at the boy in front of her. What could she do now? Sora –

…Sora? No, whoever he was, no matter how he acted, no matter what he looked like, he was – _not_ – Sora. This person was mindless. Sora – it would be a shame to associate the boy in front of her as Sora. But what else could she call him?

What could she call herself? She wasn't Kairi, by any chance. But what else did she have…?

She shouldn't think about that now. She should put more thought into what she should do, where she would go. Because right now, there was nothing.

And right now, Sora - _not Sora - _was basically just a dead-weight. She had to drag him off the ground just to get him walking.

He wasn't going to help her, not at all.

"It won't take long," she said aloud, to herself and the boy she was leading. _That's right. Look on the bright side. Every cloud has a silver lining._

Only, at this point, that cloud seemed more like a storm. She had no idea where she was going, no idea what she was even doing. What she _wanted _to do was to go back home. But there wasn't a home to go back to. Or at least, one that she could remember.

She sighed as she looked around. They had been walking for a while now. Hopefully, they would end up where there were actually people. There was no way she could unlock the gate she had woken up at, and either way, that would have ended up horribly.

No, wherever she was, she'd have to be responsible. Earn some munny, find a cheap place to stay, buy something to eat. Until then, she couldn't do what she wanted. And Sora…

Should she abandon him or what? It would be easier just to leave him, since he couldn't work for himself, and he would just be a waste of munny if she took him with her.

It would be so easy. All she would have to do was let go of his hand. Without her making sure he would follow her, he would wander away, or sit down. Once, she had almost left him behind before she realized that he wasn't there.

Still, she doubted that she would really do it. Even though she knew it wasn't Sora in her mind, she still wanted him to stay. _Why would I want something like that? What makes Sora so important that I want someone who just looks like him with me? _It was pathetic, really. _Sora, you must have been someone special if I keep thinking I want you here. _

The trees were beginning to become more sparse, and now there was more light coming in. She smiled. No more giant, dark, creepy forest. With any luck, they might end up in a town. Town, city, village, house, shed – she wouldn't be picky.

"Hey, I think we- oh no." Somehow, without her noticing, he had gotten away. She groaned. Who knows where she lost him? He could have been gone from the very beginning. It was going to take a long time to find him. If she could find him.

That wasn't a very nice thought.

Okay, okay, all she had to do was retrace her footsteps. When was the last time she remembered holding his hand?

Back into the trees. Back into the darkness. Back into the shadows.

The darkness came back, covering the ground. But no, they're only shadows.

_Only shadows. Is someone here afraid of shadows?_

She was being silly. All she had to do was step backward. She did it once, she should be able to do it again. She took a deep breath, and began to run.

Then the shadows came up, off the ground. Their beady eyes locked on to her, and they began to go forward.

"Sora!" she yelled. "Sora, where-" She stopped, in her tracks, once she caught sight of him.

Well. It seemed he was a little more useful than she thought.

Somehow, out of nowhere, he had gotten this giant _key, _and now he was using it to destroy the little shadows. Under the onslaught, they quickly began to disappear. Out of existence, into the darkness.

And she stood, as if stuck to the ground, just watching him. So this was the reason why he had left her behind. What was so important about the shadows, anyway?

_…Were they supposed to attack me…?_

He turned and smiled at her. A real smile, a grin that seemed to be impossibly wide. A nice change from the unmistakably blank expression he had on earlier.

_Sora. Did he do this for me?_

"Don't worry. I'll protect you."

_Are you still in there? Am I… am I that important to you?_

And then, as soon as the shadows stopped attacking, as soon as the key disappeared, he went back to normal. He went back to quiet, mindless, and emotionless.

She quite liked him better when he wasn't.

* * *

><p><em>Hey, Sora – <em>

_I don't know if you can hear me, but we're in town. Funny, didn't even know there _was_ a town!_

Faintly, very faintly, he can hear the words.

_So, I guess we're in it together now. Too bad you can't say anything. It'll be kind of boring. No conversation, really._

He would talk, but he's forgotten how.

_I don't even know why I'm talking to you right now. It's a lot like I'm talking to myself, but a lot sillier._

Vaguely, he wonders what the words mean.

_But I know you're in there somewhere. If that giant key is any indication._

'In there'. He wonders what it could possibly mean. And what the giant key is.

_I'll get you out of there somehow, I promise!_

Promise… what was that? He gladly drifts away, not to be troubled by words and their meanings.

He would forget about them the very next day.

* * *

><p><em>That's it for today. I don't know, I kind of expected more…<em>

_But I'm really tired. I guess I put more effort into it than I thought. Mainly because I attempted to find Roxas's memories, too. Maybe I shouldn't be so curious._

_It's weird, I didn't even think I could be this tired. It's enough for me to go right to sle…._


End file.
